Miramar Oks Urban Hub After Dispute Is Settled

MIRAMAR -- The City Commission has approved plans for a new urban hub after several landowners settled arguments over road costs.

Small- and medium-sized landowners had resisted the plan, saying it would cost them too much in road impact fees.

These differences, however, were solved before the City Commission approved the development plan on Wednesday night.

``We wanted to settle this amicably. Litigation is costly,`` said Dennis Mele, a lawyer for Miramar Interchange Associates, which owns 15 acres in the proposed development area.

The East Miramar Areawide Development of Regional Impact proposes thousands of new homes, businesses, industries and a new city hall on cow pastures west of Palm Avenue.

The concept has been described as a new downtown because it provides for residential, business and government growth over 20 years.

But some landowners fought to withdraw from the DRI, because it increases their cost of doing business. The plan requires $10 million in road improvements.

These landowners said the DRI favors big developers, such as Sunbeam Properties, which owns 80 percent of the land in the DRI area.

Under the new agreement, two property owners -- Broward Land Partners and Interchange Associates -- will pay half of their original DRI road fees.

Under DRI road requirements, BLP would have paid $500,000, and Miramar Interchange, $255,000. Both landowners would have paid less under regular county road improvement requirements.

Sunbeam Properties will assume the other half of the road improvement fees for both companies. Sunbeam will use its monetary credits it received for dedicating land to the Florida Turnpike interchange at Red Road to cover the road fees for Broward Land Partners and Interchange Associates, city planners said.

In exchange for the help, Broward Land Partners agreed to drop a lawsuit against the city over the DRI dispute. Interchange Associates has agreed not to file suit, Mele said.

A DRI is a state planning designation for large developments that affect more than one city.

In this case, the DRI covers 1,883 acres between Palm Avenue and Flamingo Road. It includes five acres for a new City Hall and 20 acres for a sports complex.

The city predicts that by 2014, the area will have 5,460 houses or apartments, 9.4 million square feet of industrial space, 2.2 million square feet of retail space and 1.5 million square feet of office space.